NEWS HEADLINES

Within the past year, Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association competitors have seen noticeable changes that will help them qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

In July, earnings from the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., were counted toward the 2018 world standings. This month, RodeoHouston earnings will count toward the 2019 world title races.

The venerable Houston Rodeo concludes with a lucrative final round on Saturday at NRG Stadium. Each single event winner will receive $50,000.

Both the rodeos in Houston and in Colorado Springs were former PRCA shows that had become independent. But the two larger rodeos are again sanctioned by the PRCA.

The Houston Rodeo and the PRCA parted ways in 2011 before coming together again this year.

A substantial portion of the $2.35 million purse at the March 2-3 RFD-TV’s The American at AT&T Stadium in Arlington counted toward the 2019 world standings.

PRCA Chief Executive Officer George Taylor said adding the higher paying rodeos to the world standings are great for competitors.

“If you win some of these events, you start winning San Antonio and Houston, they all help you get there, so it’s a huge impact and a big jump in where you are in the standings without a doubt,” Taylor said in an interview at The American.

At The American, for example, the winner of each standard PRCA event such as steer wrestling and tie-down roping earned $100,000. The PRCA allowed each event winner to count half of that, $50,000 of the $100,000, toward the world standings.

Four-time NFR qualifier Ryan Motes of Weatherford entered The American ranked sixth in the team roping heeling 2019 world title race. But after being allowed to count $50,000 of his earnings toward the world standings, he was ranked No. 1 in the world with $67,665.

Motes said he admires Taylor’s leadership.

“He’s done a really good job of bringing an outside opinion and an outside look to rodeo,” Motes said. “For him, within one year to have The American [for the first time] and Houston and Colorado Springs back … he’s done a great job in a relatively short period of time doing quite a few deals.”

Another positive move under Taylor’s watch is a noticeable amount of shows that are not a full-fledged rodeo counting toward the world standings.

“It’s important for us to have full rodeos; it’s the history of the sport and that’s critical,” Taylor said. “But we want rodeo to grow in whatever format that fans want it to grow as well and having a big roping in the heart of Texas is really a neat option, a neat opportunity for our cowboys to be able to participate in and have it count toward the NFR as well.”

It’s apparent that Taylor is a unifier.

“One of the biggest challenges in rodeo is having us be unified and together, and every rodeo matters,” Taylor said, “We sanction over 600 rodeos so the 600th rodeo matters, and it helps us develop more cowboys. As the world becomes more urban and rural, we’ve got to keep developing that. So, we’ve just been working to try to bring the sport together.”

RODEO HOUSTON UPDATE

Trevor Brazile, a 24-time world champion, and his brother-in-law, Tuf Cooper, each qualified for RodeoHouston’s tie-down roping semifinal.

Brazile, a Decatur resident, made the cut after earning $4,000 during preliminary performances. Cooper, also of Decatur, advanced after earning $3,000. Cooper is the 2017 world all-around champion.

PBR UPDATE

Jose Vitor Leme, a Brazilian who lives in Decatur, clinched the title at the Professional Bull Riders Unleash The Beast tour stop Sunday in Duluth, Ga.

He earned $39,050. Leme clinched the title after turning in a final round score of 91.25 aboard Big Black.

Leme is ranked third in the PBR’s 2019 world title race with 1,761.66 points. Jess Lockwood, the 2017 PBR world champion, leads with 2,097.50.

Jo o Ricardo Vieira, another Brazilian who lives in Decatur is second with 1,995. Vieira finished sixth in the title race at the Atlanta area tour stop.

LUKE PERRY DEATH

Actor Luke Perry, who portrayed 1987 PRCA world champion bull rider Lane Frost in the movie “8 Seconds,” died March 4. Frost was living at Quanah when he was killed in a 1989 bull riding accident at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming. The movie “8 Seconds” debuted in 1994.

Brett Hoffman, a Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame member, has reported on rodeos and horse shows for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for more than three decades.

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